Greetings siblings!
I pray that God’s peace is resting upon you today. It was an absolute pleasure seeing so many of you at our General Assembly a short while ago. For those who attended our events, stopped by our booth, purchased merchandise, or offered your prayers, we THANK YOU! We were excited to see our church reaffirm its commitments to our trans siblings and communities of color. We worshipped together, wrestled together, learned together, and grew together. I left Louisville renewed and reinvigorated.
AllianceQ is learning and growing. One of my primary considerations as Moderator is that we do not just grow wide, but that we also grow deep. That is, I want AllianceQ to have a strong organizational foundation to support our ever-expanding work. We are no longer a small group of people meeting in secret, sometimes under assumed names. We are a fierce movement with hundreds of members, congregations, and affiliated organizations that are proudly and radically transforming our Church.
As such, the Council is critically examining our structures and processes and imagining how to improve them for the work ahead. The founders of our organization drafted Design and Covenant of the Alliance, an audacious document of hope that spoke prophetically to the realities of our social and religious landscape of that time. While the spirit of the Design remains unchanged, our methods must adjust as our community’s needs transform.
The process of reviewing and revising our Design will be thoughtful and thorough, likely occurring over many months. To make this work more efficient, we are asking our members to review and approve a resolution to amend the Design that will empower and entrust the Council with making future amendments.
Our aim is not to exclude our membership from important conversations, as we will always count on you for input and advice. However, in its current form, the Design requires a vote from the membership for any changes to the Design, a process that is cumbersome and time-consuming. In lieu of member-wide votes, we seek to hold town halls and listening sessions to discuss any proposed revisions to the Design, then allow the Council to make amendments based on the feedback we receive. We hope this will increase engagement and trust between the Council and membership while streamlining the Design revision process.
To model the proposed process, we will hold a town hall meeting on Thursday, September 7, at 8 p.m. ET to review and discuss the proposed resolution. We hope that you will attend to offer your thoughts on the proposal. You may also send your questions and feedback to me via email. Following this town hall meeting, the proposed resolution will be placed on the 2023 Council Elections ballot for a vote. If the resolution is adopted, the changes to the Design and Covenant of the Alliance delineated in the resolution will become effective October 1, 2023.
Thank you so much for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you and am excited to learn and grow together.
Many blessings,
Rev. Luther Young, Jr.
Council Moderator
